When you are gathering info about this issue it is good to start with some definitions. A debt management company assists you to re-organise your financial situation to get you out of debt. However, they typically charge for their involvement and some even advise taking out more credit!

The National Debt Line is a countrywide helpline service. It offers , without cost, impartial and private counselling to individuals on dealing with debt troubles in Britain. Their helpline is offered each and every day of the week and in addition, they have an internet website that has lots of valuable help and advice on it. The National Debtline is a branch of MAT (the Money Advice Trust, which is a registered charity. The Money Advice Trust (MAT) provides consumers a structured process to correcting extreme personal debt so they'll get proper control of their finances.

Experian is one of the major UK credit reference agencies. Lenders will refer to credit referencing agencies to find out about the qualifications of a potential borrower founded on their financial record. This is considered a credit file. As with all consumers, you can obtain a copy of your report from Experian in order to check that all the references on it are proper and that your personal information haven't been used illegally.

A Credit Score (Credit Rating) is a technique that prospective loan companies use for calculating the credit worthiness of an applicant. Loan providers will examine the applicant's credit file, the statistics within their credit application and the amount of loan required Loan providers will then make use of a numerical scoring process to assess the size of 'risk' involved in lending to the applicant.

A 'CCJ' actually refers to County Court Judgement. This refers to a judgement established in a County Court against someone who is presently in debt to another party (either an individual or business) or when they have violated the stipulations of a credit arrangement. A CCJ will administer an acceptable instalment schedule in order that the one who is in debt will begin to give back what they have been lent. County Court Judgement are registered on official public record and will affect the debtor's prospects of being granted any more credit for the next six years.

Credit repair companies advertise

that they can free you from the problems associated with bad debt and can 'clean up' your credit report. You may have seen the ads saying: 'We can repair your credit!' Or: 'We can get you a mortgage/loan even if you have bad credit'.

However, you should be wary of companies that advertise this service. They may use illegal methods of 'cleaning' your report or may be using the service as front for what they really do - providing high interest loans.

These credit repair companies cannot remove county court judgements (CCJs) from your credit report. CCJs can only be removed once they have been discharged or if they have been incorrectly granted.

Anything that these companies say that they can do, you can do yourself - and at no cost.

Simple things like checking the accuracy of your credit file (contact one of the major credit reference agencies such as Experian, CallCredit or Equifax for a copy for around �2) may help in repairing your credit. This is because your credit file may hold some inaccurate data. So, if you find and put right inaccuracies; make sure that you are on the electoral roll; and remove any no longer valid financial connections, this will help repair your credit.